Philadelphia's Tai Shanahan (7) celebrates his walk-off single with teammate Mo'ne Davis (3), center as Pearland pitcher Landon Donley (12) runs off the field at end of Philly's 7-6 win Sunday night at the Little League World Series tournament in South Williamsport.
(Gene J. Puskar)

Quick thoughts on the thrilling 7-6 win by Philadelphia's Taney Little League team over a game and really good Pearland, Texas, outfit:

1. Every win in the early stages is huge in Little League tournaments because your pitchers get rest. Instead of having to suit right back up Monday afternoon with just 15 hours rest, the Philly kids get to hang out until 7:30 Wednesday when they take on big-hitting Las Vegas. That means their ace Mo'ne Davis can pitch. She threw 68 pitches on Friday – over the secondary limit -- and would not have been able to go on Monday.

2. Sometimes I think the attention of a national television audience is just too much to put on a bunch of 11-to-13-year-old kids. Until a few years ago, the only game televised was the final. Now they show regional semis and all the LLWS games in Williamsport. The lights are bright and the pressure would be stifling for grown adults.

3. That said, you cannot blame Disney for showing all the games. I've been watching as many as I can. And this was one of the best Little League battles you will ever see, a back-and-forth slugfest full of great plays, big hits and even some pressure pitching that kept the score from rising higher.

Philadelphia jumped out to a quick 3-1 lead. But Pearland, a suburb of Houston centered on the NASA space center and massive medical research companies, clearly has a Little League system that pumps out seasoned kids who back down from nothing. They began timing up Philly starter Jared Sprague-Lott and finally knocked him out with a big top-fifth highlighted by Cole Smajstrla's 3-run home run to deep left-center. The Texans made it 6-3 before Philadelphia came back with two in the bottom-fifth and two more in a super-dramatic last-shot bottom-sixth to win it.

Philadelphia got its lead-off man Scott Bandura on with a bunt single but then followed with two outs. It was all up to power-hitting Zion Spearman. He came through and laced a low curve on the ground through the left side with such velocity that it skipped between the left and center fielders to the wall. Pretty much nothing is more exciting in baseball than a last-at-bat, game-tying RBI triple and this was no exception. A slight bobble by the Pearland center fielder gave the speedy Bandura all the time he needed. He raced all the way from first and slid home with the tying run while Spearman just beat the throw to third as the big PA-heavy crowd convulsed in glee.

Then came a wrenching moment for any parent who's watched his or her child fail on a field, court or pitch – which is pretty much everybody who's had an athletic kid. Tai Shanahan hit a room-service, two-hop grounder to the Pearland shortstop. He fielded it cleanly and simply rushed his throw and tossed it well wide of first base as Spearman scored the winning run.

Which brings us back to point No. 2: Competition is great. It makes us tough and builds character. But it can be unyielding for kids this age, many of whom haven't even hit puberty. I sometimes wonder if putting all these Little League games on national TV is a good idea. But it's not going away.

No example of that was better than Pearland pitcher Jonathan Newman. In the bottom-fifth, Newman was coming apart emotionally after walking a hitter. The tear ducts started to flow. He tried to hide it with his jersey but that only made it worse. The entire Pearland infield converged on the mound to talk him out of it. It really was something to see.

And Newman pulled it together. His face still contorted, his cheeks wet, he fired the next pitch down the middle for a strike and retired the final batter of the inning to save the lead.

I'll be pulling for that Texas shortstop to do the same thing when Pearland plays Monday. I just hope he has a chance and makes a big play.